About 150 residents buy exemption from parking restrictions in Stamford

About 150 people have bought discounted parking tickets for the car parks in Stamford or waiver tickets to allow them to park on the streets.

Last week Lincolnshire County Council said a waiver ticket could be issued to park in time-restricted streets without fear of receiving a fine. The tickets cost £155.

Wardens acting on behalf of the county council started work last week.

The district council is in the process of setting up a residents’ parking scheme, following complaints that residents would be penalised for parking outside their own homes.

But in the meantime it offered discounted tickets for its car parks and the waiver ticket.

By this morning (Wednesday), 124 people had bought or reserved the discounted tickets for the car park and 23 had opted to buy the on-street waivers.

There have been complaints to the Mercury over the cost of the waivers.

But a district council spokesman said the scheme was not subsidised, which is why it “may look expensive compared to some others in operation elsewhere”.

Leader of South Kesteven District Council Linda Neal (Con) said both the car park and on-street schemes had been introduced to help residents avoid fines if they had continued to leave their cars in areas which are now subject to enforcement.

She said: “Residents within the proposed scheme boundary can opt to use our car park scheme or they have the option of choosing on-street parking by buying a parking waiver issued by Lincolnshire County Council if they would prefer.”

The car park scheme costs up to £153 for six months but costs vary depending on which car park is chosen. Residents who have already bought a car park pass can pay the difference to upgrade to the waiver scheme and keep the car park pass.

Similarly, residents who buy a waiver will also be entitled to a car park pass for Wharf Road or Cattle Market car parks.

The waivers remain valid until a decision is taken on a permanent residents parking scheme, which is likely to take about six months.

The council said if the waivers need to be reissued this will be at no extra cost.

Coun Neal said: “Season tickets are normally available for the Wharf Road car park for all day Monday to Saturday for £230 for six months or £120 a quarter.

“For qualifying residents the discount price of £153 for six months or £76.50 for a quarter offers a considerable saving. This represents a reduction of 33 per cent and 36 per cent respectively and there are similar savings at other car parks where the charges are less.

“The basic charge has been arrived at by using our existing best discount deal and the same formula has then been applied across all our car parks on a pro-rata basis.”

The charges for the interim waiver were discussed at a meeting between Lincolnshire County Council and South Kesteven District Council when it was felt the cost of the waiver should be in line with the charges that were already in force on the car parks.

Any money raised from these temporary arrangements will offset the costs of setting up a permanent scheme, which the district council said was likely to be tens of thousands of pounds.